Timber is used for building borders or walls on the ground to form edging for lawns and gardens. Generally, such edging systems comprise wooden members and means for anchoring the wooden members on the ground. However, current devices in the market do not provide a versatile raised border system which may be used in one instance as a simple raised garden border, or in another instance to form a raised terrace bed or retaining wall of varying height.
One difficulty found with many of the current devices in the market is that they may only provide single level edging. That is, only a single beam of various width may be used to form a raised bed or edge. As a result, separate and more costly support means must be employed for the construction of multilevel stepped beds, terrace beds or support walls.
Frequently, consumers in the home gardening industry will use railroad ties to form landscape edges. However, the general problem with railroad ties is that they are costly, burdensome and once in place become difficult to remove. Further, due to the large weight and size of railroad ties, stacking them to create retaining walls may require excessive labor, involving one or more parties and, as a result, be impractical. In addition, a separate means must be applied to anchor the railroad ties both to the ground and to one another.
Some edging devices do not provide the versatility often needed in landscaping due to the fact that they are limited to forming edging only at right angles or of limited shape and size. For example, a user may desire to encircle a large area or create a variety of shapes such as a semi-circle, octagon, triangle, trapezoid or parallelogram. As a result, these devices limit the user's creativity.
In addition, some edging devices, once in use, do not create an aesthetically pleasing appearance. When these devices are used to create borders, they may look awkward or incompatible with their natural surroundings, thereby taking away from the pleasing appearance of the garden bed. Therefore, there is a need in the home gardening industry for an aesthetically pleasing, yet versatile, landscape border system for anchoring lengths of timber to the ground.
One such edging device is Reimann (U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,187). Reimann discloses a stake which may be used for edging gardens and lawns or for the formation of forms for concrete foundations and slabs. The stake is made from a rigid plastic material and contains a tapered end 12 for penetrating the ground and a trailing end 14 for receiving a beam of lumber.
In contrast, the present invention has at least one support bracket which may be mounted upon a stake of various shape and size. The support bracket and stake are separate elements of the invention, thereby increasing versatility. In this regard, the bracket comprises a beam receiving portion for receiving and fastening to any standard size strip of lumber and means to secure the bracket to the stake. Further, the current invention provides the ability to rotate the brackets, such that they may form an angle from 60.degree. to 300.degree., while remaining upon an equal horizontal plane and perpendicular to the vertical axis of the stake. In addition, Reimann does not disclose securing more than one bracket to a single stake or vertically engaging a plurality of stakes to allow a plurality of freely movable support brackets to be vertically aligned and secured to said stakes.
Another known device for the building of landscape edging is the E-Z BORDER.TM. system. E-Z BORDER.TM. discloses stakes to be used in conjunction with brackets to form raised garden beds. The brackets, which receive various lengths and sizes of lumber, are fastened to the stake using a dowel and socket means. However, E-Z BORDER.TM. does not disclose stakes which may be vertically engaged one on top and inside of the other, so as to form raised bed gardens of various heights, while remaining upon an equal horizontal plane and perpendicular to the vertical axis of the stake. Further, E-Z BORDER.TM. uses a different method of securing the brackets upon the stakes distinct from the method utilized by the current invention. Whereas in E-Z BORDER.TM., the user must specifically use the unique stakes provided together with the bracket, in the current invention, many types and styles of stakes may be used due to the versatile securing means of the support brackets.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for a durable, yet adjustable raised border system that enables the user to use timber to form edging in a simple, easy to use fashion, while still providing the versatility to incorporate such device in numerous outdoor projects. Further, there is a need for a raised border system which may be used in one instance as a simple raised garden border, or in the alternative to form a raised terrace bed or retaining wall of varying height.